Our theme this summer at camp, “Faith Alive” is one that has really made me stop and think – “What does it mean to have ‘Faith Alive’?” How do I do this both at camp and also when I’m away at school? I’ve struggled a lot in considering what exactly living “Faith Alive” means, since I’m the kind of person who doesn’t tend to read my Bible everyday or go to church every week. Does that mean that my faith is any less alive than someone who does those things? I’ve found my answer in our theme verse for the summer, 1st Corinthians 16:14 – “Let all that you do be done in love.” What I do with my life is less important than why I do it, and if I truly live my life in love for God and all of creation, that is what evidences that my faith is alive. God calls us to go out into the world and be the hands and feet of Jesus. It is a radical call, and can even be frightening, but living a “Faith Alive” means setting aside complacency and mindless repetition. We must be intentional in how we live, because it is God’s love and our reflection of that love that keeps our faith alive.

Living a life of faith for God is a lot like running a marathon. To run a marathon you have dedicate yourself to running, you have to train, and you have to begin the race. As you’re running you’ll tire out and you might even regret starting the race. But if you look around you’ll see others who are feeling the same way. Others who are tired, sore, and broken. Living a life of faith for God is hard, but if we look for God in those around us we can lighten our load. In Hebrews Chapter 12, it says “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Our baptism is the beginning of faith and when we are welcomed into the family of God. From there, living a life of faith isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do. How can we prepare ourselves for this? The theme verse for our summer at camp was 1 Corinthians 16:14, “Let all that you do be done in love.” This can be the start of a life of faith for God. By doing God’s will on earth, we showing all who see us the power of God. By spreading God’s love for all to see we can live a life of faith. Remember, the path is long and tiresome, but by looking to each other our marathon of faith can be run with ease.

“For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes in what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” - Romans 8:24-25 I have been asked countless times, “You only like these verses because they have your name in it, don’t you?” Even though it is cool having my name in one of my favorite verses, it’s not the reason why I love these verses. One of the real reasons why is the last word: Patience. It is easily something I struggle with the most. I have been told by family that patience is not my strong suit. If I was working on something that takes a long time, I’d either get frustrated or quit, or lose interest and do something else. I’d rarely finish something that was time consuming, unless I saw results right away. The same thing happened with my faith. I was brought up to go to church and even went to a Catholic school until high school. But I grew bored of my faith. I believed in God, but I was never proactive. I never tried to grow in my faith. I thought that since my prayers weren’t being answered the way I hoped, and I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. I got frustrated and gave up. But I learned through camp last summer that I have to learn to wait and to be more patient with everything I do, whether that was with my campers, fellow staff, my family & friends, or anybody. Making this change in my life is not going to be easy, but I know that is something in my life that will allow me to grow closer to God.

I was a little nervous when I came to camp to start the summer on staff. I was scared that I would be different than the staff members, in the sense that everyone else would have a stronger faith than I did. I was worried that others would judge me for the mistakes I have made. As I quickly found out, that simply wasn't the case. I realized that every other staff member had their own sins and mistakes. Every one of us took our theme of “Faith Alive” to heart and lived out our theme verse: “Let all that you do be done in love.” At camp, not everyone has the same views, but it wasn't a distraction and stop us from being a community. I learned that we can love people with different views because we share the main purpose of loving and worshiping God. This is a special connection that makes camp a special place and where we can learn to love and support each other regardless of whether we are similar or different.

When God speaks to me, I usually hear him through songs or through daily readings in the Bible. To date, the loudest I have ever heard God is through the Clown Worship Service at camp, especially the week I was blessed to play the role of Jesus. During the reflection scene, Jesus stands “dead” at the cross while the song “This Man” by Jeremy Camp is playing. While listening to the lyrics I could hear God telling me that my past sins and mistakes are still forgiven by God. When the song asks if you would take the place of this man , I always ask myself – would I? Instantly, I heard God telling me that its ok, Jesus died so I wouldn’t have to. A wave of relief came over me and I just become so incredibly thankful that Jesus died for my sins. The last song in the Clown Service was “Our God” by Chris Tomlin. This song just filled me and overwhelmed my senses. All I could feel or understand was God’s love for me and his power over sin. I realized at that point that no sins in my past or even in the future would ever be too much for my God to forgive. The words in Romans 8:38-39 filled my mind and all I could think was that nothing can keep me from the love of God. I pray that as your year continues, that you remember that you are a loved child of God. Nothing can separate you from that love.“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:38-39

Luke 10:27 states, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.”

Numerous things can distract us from our love for Christ. We tend to prioritize sports, school, and friends. No matter how caught up we become in our busy lives, however, God is always waiting for us. He reminds us of the emotions we experienced at camp. Some of my favorite memories here involve standing next to campers who joyously sang songs of praise at the top of their lungs. They didn’t care how they sounded. Their souls were on fire for Christ. They devoted all of themselves to God at that time and place, and it was beautiful. With open hearts and minds, they worshiped Him. I am forever inspired by the faith of children. As God calls me to do various things throughout life, I strive to achieve the faith of a child. Fully trusting in Him like they do, I have no fear. I know that He loves me. He will provide me with the strength I need to do His work. Every time I run back to Him, He welcomes me with open arms. I live for Him.

Jeanette Perrault “God is so good.” I realized that was my saying this summer. I said it to those I was around and those I was close to. I said it during transitions into songs and during prayers. I often found myself even saying it to myself, as a continuous reminder of how God is so good. That saying is so simple, and I realize now why I chose that to say repeatedly. The saying “God is so good” encompasses so much more than the shallow meaning the words provide. God is not only good, but His greatness is beyond measure. His power and might are overwhelming, yet His love and gentleness are comforting and fulfilling. He controls the whole universe, yet has the time to pay attention to plan the most intricate parts of your life. He is divine and the great romancer, continuously making you want to fall deeper in love for Him and His creation. I am simply in awe and wonder at how God has worked in my life these past three years. I was so sure of life before my first summer working at camp, but God obviously knew He needed to change that. He sent me into the summer broken, clinging to Him and ready to serve Him however I could. I have now left my third summer at camp, healed, still clinging to Him, yet full of love for life and others. I am able to look back and see where God has played His hand in my life, placing me with people and situations that have caused me to learn and grow into the person I am today. For that, I am ever thankful and continuously praise His name for the blessings He has given to me. So, when I say, “God is so good,” there is such a deeper meaning behind it. I want to be able to say all these things, to explain the way God has worked in my life, to explain the beauty and majesty of the Creator, but sometimes saying “God is so good” is all you need. People can just tell that you mean it and that it’s true. God is so good.

Being given a gift always brings about a response. The Christmas gifts my grandma gave to me sometimes created joy and sometimes they created displeasure (i.e. the year the whole family was given matching green sweaters). Regardless, a thank you was always in order and in reality I was thankful, even if the gift was less than desired.

The gift of faith that God gives us also brings about a response. We respond to love of God by living out lives of faith. We are called each day to express the gift of faith in various ways - through the Bible, worship, prayer, hospitality, service, and so on. We are called each day to respond to love God first gave us by loving God and loving others. As we explore what "Faith Alive" means this year at Luther Point, we will join together in expressing the thankfulness for the gift that God has given us.

The Faith Alive Blog will tell stories about how people within our camp community are living out faith through this ministry. Read stories from last summer's staff and look forward to what this summer's staff will have to share.

Mikaela Moening During staff training bible study, I was in a group with four other counselors. Our theme of the day was “we are loved.” The big thing that stuck with me was an analogy shared by a friend- “If you have a clay pot over a light with no cracks or holes you wouldn’t be able to see the light underneath. If we, as Christians didn’t have ‘cracks’ or imperfections, we would not be able to see God’s light shine in us.” Ever since I heard this, I have been living by it. Something I continue to stress to my campers is that God’s light shines through our imperfections and we are who we are for a reason. The verse that I would use with this story is Psalm 139. It is a great scripture for kids to read so they know how much God truly loves them through everything. Psalm 139:1 says “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.” Our God has created each of us for one specific calling, and he will be along with us for the journey!

Tyler Olson My summer was really quite fantastic here at Luther Point. I learned about perseverance, inner strength, and leadership. Most notably was our staff scouting trip which ended up being quite a doozie. On most trips we are 99% prepared but somehow because it was just staff we relaxed and forgot a bunch of stuff...such as sunscreen and bread for our sandwiches. If you know about spending a week on the river, you know that this can make the trip very difficult. However, out of some wonderful circumstances, praise God, we managed to eat plenty and protect our skin from the sun. Yet this wasn’t even the most challenging part- the rapids on the Flambeau River were nuts!!! The waves were three feet high and it was very intimidating, but we said a quick prayer and paddled onward. God gave us the strength to handle the rapids and found that our faith can always lead us through our fears.